Pickering Park PCSO takes steps with the community

HULL

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are often the first point of contact for local residents and their role is to listen, engage, and act on concerns raised by members of the public.

One of the ways our local policing teams do this is working with partners and also conducting Humber Talking surveys to gather feedback that directly shapes the priorities of the wider team. This is vital to solving problems in the community, and often kickstarts further investigations, ultimately leading to #SaferStreets.

Not only this, but they conduct police surgeries at different locations in the local area throughout the month for members of the public to pop by for a chat or catch their local officer when they’re going about their daily business.

One Pickering Park PCSO has a simple but effective spin on these surgeries allowing him to take those extra steps to support the community in which he lives and works in too.

Over the last few months, PCSO Ash Gregory has been conducting 30–60-minute community walks alongside local residents and sometimes partners including Hull City Council and Humberside Fire and Rescue Services, giving ample opportunity to discuss any problems or concerns, gather information and have a general chit-chat, all whilst acting as a visible deterrent passing through a pre-planned route covering hotspot areas.

In recent walks, some of the residents were concerned about speeding in their area and expressed these to Ash, who then went out with the speed gun and has since given words of advice to numerous drivers. Information and concerns have also been passed directly to local authorities to action and work with relevant partners, charities, and local policing teams to understand those issues and take appropriate, collaborative action.

We all know the benefits of walking and talking, and this approach encourages members of the public, partners and even charities to get to know each other whilst keeping fit, even if they only want to join in with just a small part of the walk.

Since it has been launched, we’ve received a lot of great feedback, with one of the Local Councillor’s saying how good it has been for building up the community, and a Neighbourhood Coordinator saying how beneficial the walks have been for all involved.

It’s all about building relationships with people across different areas of the ward, whilst also building rapport with their local police officer. Together, they’re taking steps to support each other and further bolstering that crucial two-way communication to address issues and concerns, as well as exchange ideas on how by working together, they can improve where they live.

If this sounds like something you would enjoy and you want to make new friends, soak up the summer, keep active and get to know your local officer, join us on a day that works for you:

• Tuesday, 22 July
• Tuesday, 19 August
• Tuesday, 23 September

If you want to hear more from PCSO Ash Gregory, catch the latest here: https://www.humberside.police.uk/news/humberside/news/news/25/jul/working-together-for-a-safer-community-inside-pickering-road-police-station/